NOTE: I had a burst of motivation (definitely not because of the amazing feedback I've gotten *wink* you guys are the best!) so I've got a couple of chapters pre-written for when real life comes knocking. More to come soon :)

The precinct was a cacophony of noise as tables were set up and phones were brought in, getting ready for the even louder chaos that was sure to begin the second the press conference was over. Amaro and Munch were the only ones from their squad left at the 1-6 currently as Amanda and Fin were chasing down the men on their list and the Captain was prepping to inform the public about the elusive and already infamous "Pinky Pervert."

After helping with some delegation, Amaro had left the sergeant to it, and he was now in a quiet interrogation room trying to get in touch with either of his unresponsive vics. He sighed. Liv was so much better at this stuff; she just bonded so well with victims.

Nick was in a decidedly gloomy mood but he knew there was anger bubbling directly under the surface. There always was these days. The frustration at their inability to crack this case was becoming harder and harder to ignore now that it was getting so much attention and it didn't help, of course, that it'd been too long since he'd seen Zara. And then, obviously, there was Maria needing a... "break." His face darkened and his fists clenched before he pushed the thought of his wife away. Bad idea. He was better gloomy and reflective than spitting fire.

He dialed Emily Hardwick's number and waited. After several rings, the call went to voicemail and Nick closed his eyes briefly, hating that he would have to remind the woman of the worst thing that happened to her over a voicemail. He listened to Emily's recorded message and reflected on how much something like this could change someone. She wasn't the same woman who'd recorded this. There was a before and an after for her now. He shook himself out of it at "the sound of the tone" and spoke.

"Hello Emily, this is Detective Amaro from SVU. I just wanted to reach out—"

Amaro's message was cut off short as his phone rang and he pulled it away from his ear to see that Emily was already calling back. He ended his call and picked up.

"Hello?" Her voice sounded tired.

He'd better make this quick. "Hi Emily, I'm sure you remember—"

"Oh yes," she cut him off, "Um, detective Amaro right?" There was apprehension in her words now.

"Yeah, I was calling to see if we could set up a time to talk, with Detective Benson there too, and see if you've remembered anything else that could help us get the guy who did this to you," he said, keeping his voice decidedly professional but not lacking warmth.

"He knew my name."

The admission caught him off guard and his eyebrows shot up. When he didn't respond, Emily continued.

"I still don't know how he d-drugged me but I remember flashes of him, uh, calling my name while he..." Her voice was shaky and tearful and when she didn't continue Nick spoke.

"That could be very helpful to know, thank you for telling me." He paused again to see if she'd go on but all he could hear was her shaky breaths. "Is it okay if we set up a time to meet? It can be here at the precinct or we could go to you, whatever you're comfortable with."

"Um, sure."

While they made plans for her to come into the precinct tomorrow afternoon, Amaro's mind went into overdrive trying to put the pieces together with this new bit of information.

They'd all suspected that there had to be something all the vics had in common at least, that the perp had to be pulling from some victim pool, but maybe this could finally prove that. Nick hung up after they finished, looking contemplative. He supposed the bastard could've learned her name when he drugged her, but if this wasn't just completely random, and the perp knew these women's names from somewhere, it could just be a matter of finding that link! He replayed the words in his head and his excitement at the new information faded. As realization sunk in, his stomach sank as well. They already fucking knew finding a link was important. That's why he'd called.

He continued to sit there, getting angrier and angrier at how circular his thinking was becoming. This didn't give him shit! He slammed his fist on the table before shooting up, the chair toppling behind him with a loud clatter. Every fucking time they thought they found something new. He started pacing.

Nick jumped violently at a knock on the door and swore. The door shoved open and Fin walked in leading a man with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Amaro looked from the man who was scowling to Fin who had a very satisfied smirk and hope started to bubble up in his chest.

Fin started cuffing the guy to the desk and spoke, "Could you call Liv? Barba's not responding and we," he glared at the man, "need a warrant."

Nick nodded and dialed his partner, smiling at her greeting: "So you guys DID need me. What's up?"

Barba had gone down one of his rabbit holes and was deep in his case files when he heard the small knock on his door. The noise pulled him back and he looked out the window to see a darkened sky. Oh damn, how long have I… I'd better answer. "Come in!"

Carmen stuck her head through the doorway, "I've got detective Benson here to see you, she said she'd be quick."

Benson? Fucking hell… He closed his eyes briefly and willed himself to ignore the goddamn coffee cup from earlier (which of course just reminded him about the goddamn coffee cup from earlier) and he sighed, "Send her in." Carmen nodded and Barba kept his eyes down, searching for his phone as Benson walked in. Where the hell had he put it?

"Hey Barba," Olivia said, amused to find their normally composed ADA looking flustered as he searched through a pile of papers. He still didn't look up and just waved his hand up distractedly in greeting.

His voice was clipped and laced with sarcasm as he pulled open one of his desk drawers. "What'd you want this time, Benson?"

Olivia rolled her eyes at his crabbiness, "We need a warrant."

That got his attention. He brought his head up, intending to look more annoyed than he felt, and almost choked as he took in the surprising sight of her in a light blue, low hanging exercise shirt that showed off her matching sports bra paired with some very tight workout leggings. Barba managed to turn his strangled groan into a semi-passable cough, but Olivia wasn't a detective for nothing.

She couldn't look him in the eyes, suddenly feeling very exposed. "What?" she said defensively, "I just came from a workout." When he continued to look flustered, she pressed on, "Look we need this warrant Barba, and I'm not even supposed to be working right now."

Rafael was stammering, "Oh, um, it's nothing, I just—You caught me off guard." I'll say. The outfit showed off far more of her curves, hell, far more of Olivia, than he was used to causing a sudden rush of blood to his cock that left him reeling.

"I can see that."

Barba's eyes widened and he instinctually shifted to hide his erection, causing the detective to suck in a breath. Oh fuck. She could've meant… Rafael could feel his face getting hotter as he realized he'd given himself away.

Olivia was stunned and couldn't help it as her eyes flicked towards his crotch. She felt a rush of heat between her legs and bit her lip; if she didn't know any better, she'd say Barba liked what he saw. A lot.

Barba had not missed her little glance and prayed to god she couldn't see his inappropriate response to her body. Her fucking amazing body. Desperate to gloss over his embarrassment and desperate to distract from the enticing way she was biting her lip, he did what he did best: talk.

"So, the warrant? I'm hoping you have probable cause Benson, I'd hate for you to have wasted a trip here for nothing."

Olivia shook her head a little and swallowed her shock at his reaction before scowling, more than happy to focus on being annoyed rather than... whatever that was. "Look, Barba, all I know is what Amaro sent me. I wouldn't even be here now if you could, oh, I don't know, answer the phone? Remind me, what was that you said earlier about us detectives 'not bothering to pick up a phone?'"

Barba felt a rush of intense relief at their apparently mutual decision to gloss over his inappropriate erection as he spoke "Well, detective," he drawled, "It would seem that I have misplaced my cell."

Olivia raised her eyebrows at that. "Rafael Barba without his cell phone? How the hell did that happen?" she teased, the corner of her lips quirking upwards without her permission.

The lawyer shot her a look, avidly avoiding the very compelling sight of her breasts being pushed together as she crossed her arms at him. "Ha ha, Benson. We've gotten distracted again. The warrant?"

Distracted indeed. Barba had discarded his suit jacket at some point during the day and rolled up his sleeves displaying some surprisingly toned forearms that had caught Olivia's eyes.

"Ah, yes, the warrant. Um, just a sec." She pulled up her text from Amaro and was about to read it off when Barba spoke.

"No, you know what, this is ridiculous," he complained. "If you weren't there, there's no point in you explaining this second hand. Use those detective skills you supposedly have and help me find my phone. I'll just call Amaro myself."

Olivia rolled her eyes but he had a point. "Fine. But then I'm going home." She walked over to his couch and started flipping cushions while he searched the other drawers in his desk. "I've only gotten four hours of sleep in the past 2 days and ideally, I'd like to remain awake while I drive back."

Barba stopped searching. "You've only gotten four hours of sleep and yet you went to the gym?" he sounded incredulous.

"Well someone gave me coffee at 4 in the afternoon so by the time the captain let me loose I was too keyed up to sleep."

The goddamn cup of coffee. Barba's breath hitched at the reminder. "Next time I won't bother then."

"No, don't!" she winced at her volume. "I mean… it was nice." Her voice was soft and decidedly vulnerable, and Barba felt the warmth in his chest again. "Plus," she added hastily, "I hadn't gone to the gym in a while, I needed that."

Barba nodded at her with a curious expression and stayed quiet, choosing not to say anything as he bent down to check the floor around his desk. Silence fell over them and Benson took the time to kneel on the floor and check under the couch.

"How'd your phone wind up under the coach, Barba?"

"You found it?!" The lawyer sounded incredibly relieved and was next to her in a second as he held out his hand to her. She went to hand him the phone and he rolled his eyes at her before grabbing her by the hand and pulling her up.

"I can get up perfectly fine, Barba!" she exclaimed, once again blushing as she pulled her hand back.

The lawyer just smirked at her. "Just making sure you wouldn't fall asleep on the floor Benson, you look awful."

Olivia smacked his arm, " 'Awful' huh? Go on, don't hold back now," she rolled her eyes, "You must be fantastic with the ladies Barba." She mentally cringed at herself for saying 'ladies' and prayed he wouldn't comment.

He didn't. "You know what I mean, Olivia. Now let me call Amaro."

She handed him the phone and pretended not to watch him as she busied herself by wiping nonexistent dust from her knees.

"Amaro, it's Barba. Benson stopped by, said you needed a warrant. What are we looking at here?"

Instead of listening to the one-sided conversation or thinking too much about the sexually charged exchange they had moments ago, Olivia took the time to actually read what Amaro had sent her. She'd been driving when he'd texted and had been preoccupied with other thoughts on the ride up the elevator. She blamed the exhaustion, really. And her hormones.

It turned out that one of the suspects from Amanda's list had bolted when Fin and Rollins had approached him and was now refusing to answer any and all questions. Between his past and their inability to draw any form of alibi from the man, they wanted a warrant to search his apartment as soon as possible.

From what she could tell, they may have to wait on that.

Barba sounded tired as he answered the phone. "Look, Amaro, you're going to need to bring me more than just suspicious behavior and a dark past and you know it. Just hold him for now and find me something else, a motive, a shred of forensics, something, and then I can get you your warrant."

As Barba hung up he let out a heavy sigh and turned, surprised to see that Olivia was still there. "I thought you said you were exhausted, detective. What are you still doing here?"

Olivia stifled a yawn. "Just wanted to see if you'd get the warrant, Barba. Should've known you'd stonewall us."

Rafael scoffed and leaned against his desk. "Hey, you guys don't have enough, and you know it."

Olivia frowned a bit, but she had to admit it. "Ah, I guess you're right," she conceded.

The lawyer's eyebrows shot up and he grinned broadly, "Excuse me, but did I just hear Olivia Benson say I was right? Noo, that can't be, say it again a little louder this time," He cupped his hand around his ear as if hard of hearing, looking at her with a shit-eating grin on his face.

At that, Benson positively scowled, "Ughh, you're SUCH an ass, Barba!"

He appraised her with a little smirk, "Ah, you love it," he teased causing Olivia to bristle.

As she moved forward to get up in his face, Barba pushed off the desk so they were standing toe to toe. His voice darkened. "You love it," he repeated, feeling a little reckless. The small part of his brain not obsessed with the way Olivia's pupils dilated screamed at him. What the hell are you doing?! The death of me, remember?

The sudden movement startled her as they locked eyes and the tension in the room became charged and hot. She swallowed heavily. Barba's eyes were intense and caused something inside her to stir as she stared him down. When she finally spoke her voice was rough and full of wanting. "Do I?"

She watched Barba's eyes flit downwards to her mouth and her breath caught in her throat. She looked like a deer in headlights and Barba found himself enjoying it far more than he should. He swallowed his nerves and threw caution to the wind. "I think you do, Olivia."

Hearing her name on his tongue sent a shiver down her spine and her eyes closed momentarily. Away from the intensity of his stare, the detective was able to suck in a shaky breath. She opened her eyes again and spoke in a rough whisper, "What are we doing, Barba?"

Rafael felt like he was doused with cold water and he pulled away from her, blinking rapidly. "I—I don't know."

As he stepped back, Olivia found herself wishing she hadn't spoken. But then again… "Should we?"

He knew exactly what she meant and the lawyer rubbed at the back of his neck, eyes anywhere but on her. She'd never seen him look this thrown. "I don't know…" he repeated.

She shook her head a little to clear the fog of lust in her mind. She needed perspective. Her voice was soft, "I'm exhausted, Rafael, can we… talk about this tomorrow?"

When he didn't speak, she misinterpreted his silence as an answer and was mortified to hear herself ask, "Please?"

Barba had been struck dumb when she'd said his first name and shook himself out of it at her plea. "Yes, yes of course," he rushed to say. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't. You don't have anything to be sorry for," she said with conviction. He gave her a little half-smile and she continued, her cheeks still hot. "I'm, uh, I'm going to go."

He couldn't stop himself. "Drinks tomorrow? So we can talk?"

She grinned. "Sounds perfect." Olivia gave him a little wave before heading out.

"Bye Liv."

"Bye Rafael."